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Educational Games in the EFL Classroom
Authors: Maike Wachsmuth, Caroline Selbrede, Annika Urban Definition: "Play is the original way of learning things." ''(Danny Hillis) According to many different authors like Prensky, today, students are "Digital Natives". This means that they interact with media such as computers, mobile divices or video game consoles every day. This fact is incompatible with typical pedagogical strategie used in schools. There is only one way to solve the problem. The educational system needs to be changed. It needs an update which includes media as the content and interactivity used to support learning. The use of games in education is a very new trend in schools and it is believed that especially video games can support the learning process in many different ways. Educational games are games which are explicitly designed for educational use and purposes. The main aim of these games is to balance having fun while playing and at the same time reaching pedagogical purposes.There are some features that are kept purposely in the construct of the game. An educational game has always a system of rules and a target and is therefore a Gameplay. Educational games combine the learning content with entertaining mechanisms of the game. While playing eductional games, students stand between the gaming world and reality from which the learning content comes from. Relevant empirical findings: Some researchers investigated in how far educational games are more successful than traditional learning materials. The table on the right shows the results of these studies. It can be seen that the results are mixed. Some reasearchers found out that educational games foster cognitive abilities of students. Others think that there is no difference between traditional learning materials and educational games. Advantages and disadvantages of EG in the EFL classroom: Practice in the Classroom • Digital games can be used as a tool utilized by creative teachers. But these games should not be used for replacing the teacher. • Teachers need to control the effectiveness of these games in order to use them as appropriate material for the classroom. The game instructions given by the teacher should be brief. • The learning purpose should be motivational. Activities that provide some optimal level of difficulty and challenge will stimulate the greatest intrinsic motivation. • The students are allowed to fail. Teacher's Task • Identifying an appropriate game to support students learning • Motivate students to use games for education • Appears as a coach, adviser and observer in the background • Remind the students to see the educational effect of the game Examples - '''Addy Junior Englisch: '''The player explores Addy‘s world. The player has to succeed certain learning tasks to play the game. Sources: Hansen, N.(2010). ''Spielend lernen? Lernspiele in divergierendem Fächerkontext der Sekundarstufe I und II und ihre Auswirkungen auf Lernerfolg und Motivation bei Kindern und Jugendlichen. Hobblitz, Anna (2015). Serious Games and Educational Games. In: Ders. (Ed.). Spielend Lernen im Flow. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien. 13-56. Prensky, M.(2001). Digital Game-Based Learning. Torrente, Javier: e-Adventure: Introducing Educational Games in the learning Process.University of Madrid. Spain. Available: http://www.e-ucm.es/drafts/e-UCM_draft_158.pdf (25.05.2016). Weichselberger, Ulrich (2012). Digitale Lernspiele. In: Ders. (Ed.). Game-based Learning zwischen Spiel und Ernst: Das Informations- und Motivationspotenzial von Lernspielen aus handlungstheoretischer Perspektive. Magdeburg: kopead. 91f.